Gizmodo

After early reports confirmed that Windows 11 would include an even more labyrinthine process for switching your default browser than the one required in previous versions, the company has seemingly reversed course, now allowing users to switch browsers with the click of a single button.Read more...

Another day, another piece of internet history being turned into a wildly expensive NFT. This time, that historical remnant comes from Wikipedia; on Friday, Christie’s Auction House announced it would be auctioning off the first edit made to the platform more than 20 years ago.

Two men have been accused of a $20 million, years-long music royalties heist from a certain company identified as “Y.T.” Federal prosecutors do not explicitly name “YouTube.” We can glean from court documents, however, that “Y.T.” is a website that hosts uploads and uses the exact same monetization and content ID…Read more...

The recent Spider-Man movies have all had a bit of an ongoing joke to them, except it’s nothing really to do with the films themselves. No, it’s that, outside of a few choice options (we see you, Homecoming chillaxing Spidey poster), most of Sony’s posters for Homecoming, Far From Home, and now No Way Home have, uh,…Read more...

Winter is officially here, and it’s hot as hell. This week, large parts of the U.S. and Canada found themselves subject to yet another brutal heatwave, this time bringing record December temperatures that could easily be confused for a cool summer evening.Read more...

This week, YouTuber MrBeast posted a video with an elaborate, death-free reconstruction of the challenges from the popular South Korean drama Squid Game to his, as of the time of this writing, 82.9 million followers. The video garnered criticism from many who saw it as a tone-deaf stunt that completely misses the…Read more...

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring turns 20 this month, and as our thoughts linger there and back again, we’re reminded of just how many of its moments remain so brilliantly memorable decades later. But one of its most haunting and tragic scenes still lingers as a clear standout in Peter Jackson’s trilogy:…Read more...

NASA has awarded lucrative contracts to three U.S. companies—Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman—to develop space station concepts that will serve both public and private interests in space.

Verizon customers who value their privacy should immediately opt-out of the phone carrier’s disturbing new data tracking service.

Well, this is somewhat unexpected. While John Cena stole The Suicide Squad movie’s spotlight by portraying the biggest, stupidest, most lethal moron in the semi-elite Task Force X, it looks like HBO Max’s upcoming Peacemaker show will show us the melancholy behind all the idiocy and gunfire.

Scream 2022 director Tyler Gillett is already planning out who could survive and return for a sequel. Get a new look at what’s next on Amazon’s Wheel of Time. Plus, Doctor Who prepares for the finale of Flux, and Servant will return for season four. Spoilers away!

With each successive version of watchOS, Apple has added more watch face options for your Apple Watch, but in terms of user customization there’s still not a whole lot you can play around with. One way that you can make your Apple Watch more personal is by using your own photos as watch faces, and watchOS 8 made this…Read more...

China-based ridesharing technology platform DiDi will delist from the New York Stock Exchange and pursue a listing on the Hong Kong exchange, according to multiple reports and a press release from the company.Read more...

If you’ve decided that you absolutely cannot live without seeing the number of dislikes that videos get on YouTube, there’s now a way to get them back, at least for now.Read more...

Some hacker out there is really taking that whole “Great Resignation” thing pretty seriously. According to a new report from Motherboard, “dozens” of companies’ receipt printers are getting spammed with “anti-work” screeds—the likes of which are encouraging employees to tell their bosses to take a hike.Read more...

Star Wars fans are known for having passionate opinions and Shang-Chi star Simu Liu is no different. On the latest episode of Hot Ones, the new Marvel hero was asked about a photo from his Instagram where he was wearing a red Sith Trooper helmet, which lead to the question of who his favorite Jedi is. The answer is…Read more...

The rumor mill has been teasing Android users for years with the possibility of a Google-made Android smartwatch, and a new report indicates it might actually finally be happening.Read more...

As the next chapter of Star Wars: The High Republic draws near, The Jedi Order and Republic Chancellor Lina Soh are going to learn that reaping can be much, much less fun than sowing.

Despite the fact that most of the world’s civilization has died off from a super-flu, the survivors who star in HBO Max’s adaptation of Station Eleven seem to be in pretty good spirits about the whole thing. In a new trailer, one man (played by David Wilmot) even says to the group of survivors he’s with, “We have…Read more...

United Airlines made aviation history this week, completing a flight between Chicago and Washington DC, using a slightly less environmentally disastrous fuel source—or, as they would prefer you call it, “sustainable aviation fuel” or SAF in aviationspeak.

The building blocks for Apple’s rumored M3 chip are reportedly underway.

Food delivery startup Instacart has built its brand on lightning-fast grocery drop-offs, but the convenience economy never sleeps: This week, The Information reported that the company plans to launch a pilot version of an even speedier, 15-minute delivery plan as soon as early next year—a significant step up from its…Read more...

As the United States begins to identify the emergence of the newly discovered Omicron variant of covid-19, a new breakthrough case of the strain in Minnesota could be a point of concern for the return of large scale conventions.

A man’s years of trouble breathing through his nose turned out to have a much stranger explanation than anyone could have imagined. His doctors, in a paper out this week, describe finding a tooth poking through his nasal cavity. Thankfully, the wayward chomper was removed with no complications, and the man’s stuffy…Read more...

Apple posted record iPhone sales last holiday season, but the end of this year is looking less cheerful. The company reportedly told component suppliers that demand for the iPhone 13 lineup has softened, according to Bloomberg, which cited “people familiar with the matter.”

A newly developed, bio-inspired aerial robot can land on a variety of branches and carry objects like a bird.

Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons becomes a different sort of video game the more time you spend playing it. After completing an initial handful of tasks meant to turn your newly settled island into a place where other people want to live, and inviting a selection of neighbors to move in, the game backs off…Read more...

Sure, things may look pretty grim when it comes to the climate. But new data and forecasts from the International Energy Agency suggest we’re at least not going backward—and renewable energy growth is set to accelerate.Read more...

An Italian fishing village near the Slovenian border has yielded a bevy of Cretaceous Period creatures, including dinosaurs, crustaceans, and crocodile ancestors. The paleontological team says the fossil trove tells a different story of the ancient Mediterranean than what’s previously been believed.Read more...

The healthcare system in the U.S. is incredibly flawed, to say the very least. It’s no surprise that Google is attempting to insert itself as a helper when it comes to navigating the big mess.

io9 is proud to present fiction from LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE. Once a month, we feature a story from LIGHTSPEED’s current issue. This month’s selection is “When Sri Left the Ruined City” by Donyae Coles. You can read the story below or listen to the podcast on our website. Enjoy!Read more...

The original population of wolves living in Norway and Sweden were wiped out 50 years ago, a report commissioned by the Norwegian parliament has concluded.

Can the continued popularity of motorsports be partly traced back to all the race car-shaped beds that kids of the ‘80s begged their parents for? The Drone Racing League sure hopes so as it’s created the modern equivalent—a bed shaped like a racing drone—in hopes of creating a new generation of fans that will grow up…Read more...

What, you thought Star Wars would leave something about a character’s backstory unexplained?

A ransomware attack on the Los Angeles branch of Planned Parenthood has compromised data on approximately 400,000 patients, the organization revealed this week. The breach, which involves highly sensitive information, has come to light just as a legal drama over women’s reproductive rights unfolds in the Supreme…Read more...

A team of researchers has observed a never-before-seen state of matter called a quantum spin liquid by toying with the spins on supercooled rubidium atoms using a quantum simulator. The discovery has implications for the way quantum computers work and, perhaps someday, the environments in which materials can be…Read more...

Microsoft Edge was once a good alternative to Google Chrome, and now it seems the browser is spiraling.

The Advent Calendar is the perfect movie to watch in December—if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t mind a few buckets of blood added to their wholesome holiday traditions. Excellently plotted and acted, with tension that builds to near-unbearable heights, it’s a must-watch for horror fans.Read more...

Zoom is adding in a new feature that may make it more difficult for you to casually coast your way into a meeting without your boss noticing. The new “Attendance Status” tool, first spotted by TechRadar, allows Zoom hosts and co-hosts to use calendar integration from Google and Microsoft to easily see whether or not…Read more...

Another day, another chance for Congress to maybe finally figure out what a bitcoin is: cryptocurrency CEOs are heading to the House to testify on digital assets on Dec. 8, according to an announcement by Representative Maxine Waters.

The world has a data problem. Each day, we created another 2.5 million gigabytes of data, and each year, the amount of data produced globally increases exponentially. This puts us on a collision course with a serious problem: the rate at which we produce data is outpacing our ability to store it.

The federal government has restarted a search for towns that will volunteer to be temporary homes for thousands of tons of nuclear waste.Read more...

If HBO Max’s Summer Camp Island were a person, it’d be the sort that understood how, as generally unpleasant as the winter months can be, they become much more enjoyable when you look at them as the precursors to spring, when the world will blossom open and the outdoors become wonderful again. Wintery as it may be in…Read more...

It may be winter in the U.S., but it’s always a good time to refresh your innate fear of the creepy crawlies that make us sick. In a new paper this week, John Hopkins researchers have detailed the creation of their Lyme and tickborne disease dashboard. The project provides an easy-to-navigate map tracking the spread…Read more...

One possible answer to the growing plastic problem could come from a weird place: salmon jizz. In a study published recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a team of researchers from China detail how they’ve created what they call “DNA plastics,” a plastic material made from strands of DNA.Read more...

So we heard this rumor that some of you out there like this thing called, *checks notes,* Halo? The Chief is about to be back in action in Halo Infinite, and if you’re eagerly awaiting the next chapter—or playing a part of it already—the folks at Mondo are teaming up with Xbox to release some really striking posters…Read more...

In a move just about anyone could have predicted, a federal judge has blocked Texas’ controversial social media law that would have restricted the way companies moderate content, claiming such efforts violate the First Amendment.Read more...

You’d assume a store packed from floor-to-ceiling with toys would have no problem attracting a coveted demographic, but Toys R Us has had a tough time rising from the ashes after going under in 2018. Several Toys R Us stores and pop-ups have opened and closed since then, but the brand’s current owners are hoping a new …Read more...

In last week’s mission to investigate Star Trek: Discovery’s latest galaxy-ending Threat of the Season, the exhaustingly extensive high stakes adventure gave us a chance to see the series’ heroes find their friends and family and decompress with each other. This week feels much the same, and the story finds great…Read more...

Karen Gillan gets ready to face her clone in a new look at Dual. Guillermo del Toro teases when to expect his Netflix Pinocchio series and expands the cast for his Cabinet of Curiosities anthology. Plus, The Witcher gets us caught up on Geralt and Yennefer’s relationship, and AMC sends its plans for Anne Rice’s Lives…Read more...